Time is not to be wished away

January gray is here,
Like a sexton by her grave;
February bears the bier,
March with grief doth howl and rave,
And April weeps–but, O ye Hours!
Follow with May’s fairest flowers.

Percy Bysshe Shelley – Dirge for the Year (1824)

It’s easy to find yourself wishing time away, especially in the depths of winter. Longing for summer or even spring is natural. However, such thinking accelerates life and with the speed we can easily miss the beauties of winter, from the magical geometry of a snow flake to the warmth of family and home.

The same applies on the macro level as we hurry ourselves to the next job, the next acquisition, the next trip, the next thing for which we are striving. It’s good to savour our time more, slow down, live life more consciously. After all, we only have 40,000 weeks.

This is the book I’ve bought most copies of in my life (to give to people I care about)

This instead of that

The activity is the thing that I’m most interested in. Nearly everything that I’ve done was to see what would happen if I did this instead of that. [Robert Rauschenberg]

Estate
(1963)
Oil and silkscreen ink on canvas

It’s when you’ve found out how to do certain things, that it’s time to stop doing them, because what’s missing is that you’re not including the risk. [Robert Rauschenberg]

Robert Rauschenberg 1968

Experimenting is central to creativity. The mentality is as much science as art. What will happen if I try this? What will happen if I change this element?

By definition, sometimes in the process of being creative you must fail. In such a context, failing is always learning. Risk is essential to creativity, change and growth. If you don’t give it a try, you will never know. Now is the moment in the year to take a risk and try something new.

I had a conversation about this with my brother over the weekend. He is just about to move house after a couple of decades bringing up his family in his current place. He sees staying put in one location forever as a kind of defeat. Change, adventure, “missions” (as he put it) are all critical to living a good last third of life. Changing place is one obvious way of progressing. Changing attitude or outlook is another perfectly achievable way. Anywhere where you try this instead of that – these surroundings instead of those, this positivity instead of that grumpiness, this uprightness instead of that stooping, these clothes worn with purpose instead of those just thrown on, this fresh work trajectory instead of that familiar repetition, this risk instead of that dull comfort.